Loves Acquaintance
by Kurimuzon Tsuwamon
Summary: Love that blossoms is a beautiful thing. Will Ichigo confess his love to Orihime? And who is it that is seeking the destruction of Sei-Rei-Tei and Karakura town? IchigoXOrihime
1. The Screaming Hollow

The Screaming Hollow

I watched her as she danced round and round, smiling. Her brown eyes were sparkling under the lights. She had tied her long orange-brown hair up in a bun it suited her. I watched her as her blue prom dress floated around her as she danced, almost as if it had a mind of its own and wanted dance also. I could not see whom she was dancing with, but I envied him... I wish it were me that was dancing with her.

"ICHI--GO~!" Rukia's annoying scream filled my head now, making me look away from the dancing Orihime.

"Oh crap, not again..." I turned myself from the window of the dance hall. Oh, how I wished that I had asked Orihime to the prom, but that could never happen. I looked around for Rukia, expecting her to have left her gigai now.

"ICHI—GO!" She shouted at me again, her voice slightly more manly than it should be this time, which scared me slightly. I groaned, reluctantly pulling myself from the window of my dream, normally I would have replied to Rukia, but I could not let Orihime know that I was there. I found her on the roof a small house, her shinigami kimono blowing in the soft breeze. She stood, facing the full moon in front of her; she did not look very Rukia like for a second, the wind blowing through her short-cropped hair, her eyes softer than normal. Then she opened her mouth to bark at me again, obviously not noticing that I was there.

"Rukia!" I shouted at her, if I had not been in my body, I would have jumped up next to her. I sighed. I waited for her reaction, would Kon be with her? I hoped not, I hated that perverted little replacement soul. However, I did not want her to use that weird glove thing that she used to use on me, she would always but a little too much force into it. Kon's yellow lion head, with the spiked brown mane popped over her shoulder, the stuffed toy looked odd moving.

"Yo, Ichigo!" He called over to me, Rukia now turning her head to me, slightly glowering at me with her dark purple eyes. By the seriousness in them, I guessed that something was bad; I began to wonder what it was.

"You're late" She said coldly, typical Rukia, giving me a hard time over nothing. I simply sighed in reply as Kon jumped at me, trying to scratch me with his felt claws. I just looked at him unpleasantly before grabbing his face with my left hand, and shoving my right down into the stuffing of the toy, searching for that little green pill that contained his soul. I ignored his muffled groans of protest as I continued to violently search for the pill.

"Get more serious Ichigo, you are a substitute shinigami, you have responsibilities." I was expecting more of a harsher, longer lecture from Rukia about my responsibilities as a substitute shinigami; she was turning into a female version of her brother, Byakuya now. I pictured her in the same captain's robe that her longhaired, annoying brother wore, with the same white headpiece symbolizing their "Nobility," and the same white scarf that he wore. I burst out in un-controllable laughter suddenly; Rukia's unpleased face staring at me blankly.

"Ichigo!" She scolded me again. I just rolled my eyes, finally finding the pill in the stuffed animals stuffing, pulling it out as the toy fell limp. I popped the pill in my mouth, forcing my Shinigami soul from my body, and leaving Kon in its place. I hated him being in my body, I never knew what he was doing with it, for all I knew, he was be grotesquely peeking on women showering, or groping my friends. I just hoped that he would not go after Orihime; I admit she is a bit of an airhead to think nothing of it, but it would still disturb her. I hope that my friends knew me well enough to know when the perverted soul of Kon inhabited my body.

"Okay Rukia, what's the problem?" I threw the stuffed toy to Kon, who watched me jump up next to Rukia, the bandages that wrapped around Zangetsu, my constant shikai state Zanpakuto sword. Unlike most over Zanpakuto, mine had no sheath to hold it in, so it sat neatly strapped to my back. Rukia had her hand on the hilt of her sheathed Zanpakuto, I had to admit, I liked the ability of her Sode no Shirayuki, Sleeve's White Snow. Their closely connected abilities with her brothers, each using different "dances" only hers was ice based, where his were based around his sakura petal like swords, Senbonzakura, Thousand Cherry Blossoms.

"Menos Grande" She simply said. My eyes widened, Menos Grande, what were they doing here? I remember my first encounter with one of those giants, back when the Quincy Archer, Ishida, tried summoning Hollows for a competition.

"How many are there?" I asked her, looking around for the Gillian, though these were strong hollow, they were not the strongest of the Hollow it was still hard to handle them. However, if there were enough of them, it would probably take a whole squad to destroy them. I wondered whom it was that was sending them to Karakura, surely they are not just here on a whim, I thought they liked to stay in the "Forest Of Menos."

"At least 10..." She said blankly, closing her eyes as he lip trembled slightly. "We are doing this alone... None of the squads are helping..." When she re-opened her eyes, I could see the dread and fear in her eyes. She did not think that we would be able to do this.

"When are they coming?" I closed my eyes, trying to look for the spiritual pressure of the Menos, but could not find it; they must not be here yet. I wonder what is taking them so long.

"Ten minutes" She said dully, I watched her carefully, my eyes turning softer.

"BAN--KAI!" My spiritual pressure exploded around me as I held out Zangetsu, my black Shinigami Kimono now longer, torn at the bottom, with a white trim. Zangetsu had switched from a large round edged blade, to a black katana, with a chain on its hilt.

"Don't worry Rukia, we can do this" I tried to reassure her, if need be, I would use my mask. I looked at her as she looked back at me, her eyes wide slightly. She smiled at me.

"Yeah, you're right" She gripped the hilt of her sealed Zanpakuto slightly tighter. The deafening scream of several Menos Grande filled the air, making Kon cower and hide behind us. Both Rukia and I just stared at the sky as they ripped through it, stepping from the black void. They were early. Not only were they early, there were more than ten of them, at least twenty. I gripped the hilt of Zangetsu tighter, my hand next my face, ready to pull my Hollow mask over it. Rukia watched me, drawing her own Zanpakuto.

"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki" She spun her sword out in front of her slowly, the whole sword turning white as ice, a ribbon formed from the pommel of her sword, forming a perfect circle in mid-air. I could feel the sudden change in temperature, going from a mild-summer breeze, to a very cold winter's night. I was stunned as I watched it; it was the most beautiful Shikai release that I had ever seen. I could see why they regarded Sode no Shirayuki as one of the most beautiful Zanpakuto that has ever existed. If only Orihime was its master, it does not really fit the slightly manly features of Rukia.

"Let's get this show on the road!" I shouted, jumping into the air, air walking as I flash stepped closer to the Menos, drawing the Hollow Mask over my face. The white mask was spherical at the top of the skull, and more pointed as it worked down to the jaw, where the many pointed teeth were. While wearing it my eyes turned yellow, like a Hollow, and my spiritual pressure and speed spike upwards. The mask had crimson markings, all coming from the side of the mask and moving central.

"GETSUGA TENSHOU!" I slashed Zangetsu through the air, the black spiritual energy ripping through the air, straight for the first two Menos that were charging their red Cero. The black spiritual energy ripping through the mid section of one of the Menos, another sliced through its mask, destroying it. The sudden pillar of light caught my eye, it was Rukia's Sone no Mai, Tsukishiro, First Dance, White Moon. She had completely frozen a Menos that was charging its Cero, the Cero working in its downfall as it shattered the ice, shattering the Menos in it.

I flashed stepped behind one of the too slow Gillian's, slashing through the back of its, splitting its mask in half, destroying it. I heard the thunderous roar of a Cero blast, then the scream of a Rukia in pain, my eyes widening. I quickly flash stepped to her side, holding her in one my arms.

"Shit, at this rate we aren't going to survive" I thought to myself, watching the Menos all charge up a Cero. I quickly whisked Rukia up into my arms; flash stepped away before the Cero blasts could hit us. That is when I felt the huge spiritual pressure of Urahara, Mr. Hat and Clogs. The Cero waves that were all focused on where Rukia and I once were, where Urahara now stood, all blasted up into the air. He was deflecting them. I had forgotten how powerful this perverted shop owner was, the Ex-Captain. I watched the Menos, as two of them split in two, Yoruichi standing in the air smiling.

I grinned to myself, handing the injured Rukia to Kon, Rukia protesting as I smiled at her and gave her the thumbs up, then flash-stepping back to the action.

"Hello, Ichigo!" Urahara cooed to me as I stood next to him, his own Zanpakuto, Benihime at the ready in his hand.

"This is no time to chat" Yoruichi scolded us, now standing on the right of Urahara.

"Right, right, we have to deal with these guys" Urahara commented. I knew that these two could probably handle it on their own, both being Ex-Captains and all. However, I wanted a piece of the action to.

"Yeah, let's finish this." I said, trying to act cool as I faced the Menos that were all charging their Cero again, there were only 15 of them left now. I rested Zangetsu on my shoulder, waiting for them to finish charging their Cero's. I got my wish, and all 15 red beams red at us, ripping through the air from their huge mouths.

"GETSUGA TENSHO!" I shouted, the black wave of spiritual energy gathering around my sword, but this time I did not throw it at them, instead I flash stepped behind them. I quickly slashed my sword through the air, letting of the black wave, as it ripped through three of the Menos' heads, destroying them and their Ceros.

"Heh" I smiled to myself as I watched Urahara block the huge wave of the Ceros with his Benihime, hit hat fluttering in the Ceros power. He smiled slightly, throwing the Ceros back with a single swing of his Zanpakuto, taking out four of the Menos with their own Cero. The others all straying off into the sky, this fight, was turning into a competition, a competition to see who could kill the most. Yoruichi was making quick work of the other Menos, flash stepping around the all, cutting through their masks with nothing but her bare hands. She was already up to five. Both me and Urahara chuckled to ourselves, I started to join Yoruichi in flash stepping around each of the Menos, slicing through their masks with vast amounts of strength and speed, my normal power greatly enhanced by my Hollow mask.

We made short work of destroying the rest, Urahara simply standing on the spot, not bothering to help us; instead, he fended off any on coming Cero blast.

"I win again Ichigo" Yoruichi boasted, putting her hands on her hips and grinning at me. Her purple hair, tied back as always. However, she had replaced her usual attire of an orange jumpsuit with black slacks, to a black tee, and jeans. I guess this was her casual choice of clothes; maybe they were going to see a movie or something.

"Yeah, yeah" I grumbled, she reminded me so much of Zaraki at times, the over-powering muscle head who loved to fight.

"Hm… Care to join me at my shop?" Urahara said I knew that this was not an actual question, more of an order; he just did not want to seem rude.

"Sure" I said, knowing that I had no choice, besides, it may enlighten me to what exactly is going on here.

Chapter 2. The Discussion.


	2. Questions

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CHAPTER TWO - QUESTIONS

[color=blue]"Someone get this creature off meeeeeee!"[/color]

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When all four of us, because Rukia was invited as well, though she was still injured, arrived at the Urahara shop, I saw the reason why Rukia had been invited. In some miraculous yet, seriously scary way, Chad, Ishida and Orihime were all at the shop waiting for us. It was seriously creepy, Urahara had been at the fight with the menos since the start, I think. So how in the hell had he called these three here in such a short period of time? Though, that question could wait, there were more important ones to ask at a time like this.

"Kurosaki-Kun! AH! R-rukia-chan" Orihime greeted us in her usual excited manor, and when she noticed that Rukia was injured, something that shouldn't really be unexpected when Rukia was fighting, because she got injured quite a bit in past fights, Orihime jumped up and quickly began tending to Rukia's wounds with her strange powers. Then I felt Ishida's cold gaze upon me, through the glass of his glasses. I rolled my eyes as I sat down, me and Ishida have always partially hated each other, because we are Shinigami and Quincy, a rivalry older than either of us can imagine, but since he had been trying to win Orihime's heart, my hatred towards him grew deeper. I completely ignored him when he greeted him with his usual cold greeting of my last name.

Chad was sat next to Ishida, his bulky figure towering over the skinny Quincy. Chad's curly dark brown hair covered his eyes, and his lips were neutral in his face, giving off no emotion. Typical of the gentle giant who's punch could destroy a hollows mask with ease. I took my seat on the other side of Chad, my best friend since we helped each other out back in middle school. Not that he didn't really need help, since Chad could take almost anyone in a fight, but he just refused to fight for himself, there had to be a reason. "Yo" was all I said to the giant sat next to me.

Urahara sat opposite me, and Yoruichi sat, or lay, because it was kind of a mixture of the both, she was leaning to the side, resting on her right arm, while her legs were crossed on the floor, what a weird way to sit, it must not be very healthy for her spine. Oh well. Urahara's hat cast a shadow over his eyes, and he quickly pulled out his fan and put it in front of his mouth, creepy idiot. "So, what's going on?" I wanted answers, and I wanted them fast, I had to be back soon after all, Yuzu would have dinner ready soon, and I didn't want to disappoint her again, for the second night in a row. Besides, she could cook better than me, and I really don't want to eat one of the my on prepared, or even re-heated meals. Just the thought of it made me want to throw up. I looked Urahara square in the eyes, well, at least where I thought where his eyes were, it was hard to tell at the moment.

"Ah, so impateint, Kurosaki-Kun~" Urahara's usual chilled out voice was back now, he wasn't serious any more, at least, he made it seem that way anyway. This guy is really hard to read, which just adds to his creepyness.

"Look, old man, we're wasting time here, I-"

"Ichigo! Why can't you just learn to listen?" Yoruichi cut in, her powerful voice speaking for Urahara, he would probably say something similar to that. You'd think that these two were a married couple with the way they act sometimes.

"Ah! Don't interrupt me when I'm asking questions, old women" I smirked playfully as I leant forwards and placed my hands on my knees so that I could balance myself easier

"WHO YOU CALLING OLD?!" Yoruichi barked back, though, unlike me, she didn't move when she spoke "Can you not see how beautiful I am?" She just smiled at me and kept her sly orangy-yellow eyes on me, god this woman drove me nuts.

"Ah~ Kuro-Kurosaki-kun, Yoruichi-sama, don't cause fights" Orihime smiled at us gently, and I couldn't help but instantly calm down. I sank back into my seat and waited for Urahara's answers, he would tell us even if I hadn't of asked him.

"Now then~ I guess you're all wondering why I called you all here, well, except for Ruika-san and Kurosaki-kun of course. They already have a slight understanding as to what's going on." Urahara started, about time he finally gave us some answers. "A small band of Menos Grande Hollow attacked Karakura town just now- " Small? Hah! If that's a small group, I'd hate to see a large one- "But of course, Kurosaki-Kun and myself were able to disperse them, along with the help of Yoruichi-san and Rukia-chan."

"Menos Grande, here? Why?" Ishida asked, for a guy who acted like he knew everything, he sure was asking a lot of questions right now.

"We're not sure why they attacked, or how they managed to get here" Yoruichi answered, with her eyes now closed. She seemed somewhat annoyed that she didn't know.

"Could it be down to Aizen?" I closed my eyes and folded my arms across my chest. Aizen, the man that had managed to turn several shinigami, captain and lieutenant class, into Vaizard, like me. The man that managed to deceive all of Soul Society and Sei-Rei-Tei with ease. The guy who was now making an army of Arrancar deep in Hueco Mundo. Just thinking about him made me want to fight him, and kill him.

I felt Uraharas serious, and bone chilling eyes on me now "We aren't sure if it is Aizen. But he is my biggest suspect at the moment."

"Surely Aizen would have sent Arrancar again, instead of Menos Grande?" Ishida asked with an air of confidence around him. Yeah, we could take Menos Grande easy now, but having them attack in such a large group, was no easy matter to deal with.

"It could have just been a warning, or a test" I replied without looking at the blue-haired, glasses wearing smart guy on the other side of Chad, but I could tell that he was somewhat annoyed with me answering his question instead of either Yoruichi or Urahara.

"That it could be indeed, Kurosaki-kun. See~! Yoruichi-san! There is hope for him yet!" Urahara exclaimed, I felt my eyebrow twitch, but managed to contain my anger and keep perfectly still. Though, I could hear Orihime's giggle behind me, and for some strange reason, I could even see Ishida's slight grin at the remark. "Indeeed, Ishida-Kun, it is strange that Aizen would send these quite frankly, primitive hollow instead of his Arrancar, but I think it's as Kurosaki-kun said, he just sent them to test our skills, and make us remember that he is still out there. Or, it could be some new enemy that's also in Hueco Mundo, and is deciding to wage war against Karakura town."

"But wouldn't Aizen know about them and put a stop to them?"

"If he did know about them, then yes he would, Kurosaki-Kun. He can't afford to let someone else destroy Karakura town before he does after all." At least Urahara agreed with me about this "But, he may also not know about them, Hueco Mundo is after all, a very, very big place. It's impossible to know what's going on in every last corner of it."

"Does Soul Society know about this?" Chad's deep voice finally broke into the conversation, if it wasn't for his massive figure taking up much of the seating area around the table, no one would think he was still here. To be honest, I thought he had fallen asleep. Then the sliding door behind Urahara moved, and I felt the presence of an all too familiar person.

"ICHI!!!!!" [b]BANG![/b] I fell backwards as my head was hit by something small, and fast. When I looked up, all I could see was the face of the small child who was lieutenant of the 11th Division. Yachiru. For a hundred odd year old, she really was still like a kid. "ICHI-ICHI!! KEN-CHAN CAME TO SEE YOUUUUUUUUU" She was really loud too.

"G-Get off of me!!" I shouted as I tried to push here away, but seconds before my hands found her, she was gone again and was sat on the huge figure of her Captain, Zaraki Kenpachi. Strongest figher in all of the Gotei 13. He was looking down at me as if I was some rat that needed saving, and he was the Lion who was displeased to have it in it's presence

"Yep~ That's why Zaraki-san and Yachiru-chan are here!" Urahara exclaimed with excitement.

"These two!?" I protested "These two are here to help us figure out who is behind all of this mess?!" Neither of these two had ANY sense of direction, and both of them were as blood thirsty as the other, only, Yachiru was never allowed to fight, and because of this, was usually more childish.

"Ah~ I think he's angry, Ken-Chan~" Yachiru put her finger to her bottom lip and looked up at Zaraki as if butter couldn't melt, and she was the most innocent thing in the world.

"It's your fault" Zaraki's coarse voice came, as he told her bluntly, not even turning his head to her. The size difference was amazing. "When do we get our rematch, Ichigo?" Typical, all Zaraki was interested in was another fight.

"Ah~~ Not now you two~ we have more important things to discuss! Like! Accommodation for you~!"

"Shouldn't they just stay here?" I was a little puzzled as to why we had to discuss this, Shinigami from Soul Society usually stay here anyway, so why should now be any different?

"Ah~ Because of Zaraki-Kuns immense spiritual presence, only he can stay here, which means--- Yachiru will have to stay with you, Kuro-"

"WHAT?!?!!!?!?!?!?" Rukia suddenly came back to life as both of us suddenly shouted the same thing at the exact same thing. The pink haired demon, staying at my house. Surely this couldn't be good.


End file.
